Titans Home To Face First-Place Irvine, Riverside

Oct. 9, 2007

SERVICE! Fullerton (8-8, 3-2) snapped a season-high three-game losing streak on Oct. 6 against UC Santa Barbara and look to build on that performance as they face first-place UC Irvine (14-6, 4-1) and UC Riverside (5-11, 1-4) this weekend at Titan Gym. As the Big West Conference race unfolds, Irvine is in a deadlock for first place in league with Cal Poly and Long Beach, while Riverside is three games behind in the loss column in eighth place in a nine-team conference. Fullerton is one game out of first place, but is currently holing on to the No. 5 spot in the Big West Conference with 11 more league matches to go.

VERSUS UC IRVINE: Cal State Fullerton is 20-35 all-time against the Anteaters dating back to their first meeting in 1980. Last season the two teams split the season series with each team winning at their own home court. Fullerton is 3-7 in the Carolyn Zimmerman era, since 2002. Each of the past three seasons, the two teams have split the season series.

VERSUS UC RIVERSIDE: The Titans have an 11-4 record versus the Highlanders since their first meeting back in 1984, and have won each of the last four matches with the conference opponent. Fullerton's last loss to UCR came on Oct. 28, 2004 at Titan Gym. Fullerton has taken 8 of the last ten matches under Head Coach Carolyn Zimmerman.

LAST WEEK: Cal State Fullerton went 1-2 on the road last week in their first week of extensive Big West action. The Titans lost at Cal State Northridge (2-3) on Oct. 2 and Cal Poly (0-3) Oct. 5 before defeating UC Santa Barbara (3-2) on Oct. 6 at the Thunderdome. The win over the Gauchos was the first ever in Goleta for Fullerton, which has now beaten UCSB two times in a row after an 0-52 run over their first 25 years with the northern foe. It also snapped the Titans' longest losing streak of the year at three games. At Northridge, Francisco had 28 kills for the highest total by a Titan since the 2001 season. Moore matched Francisco with 28 on Saturday, with Francisco collecting 24 more in the win over the Gauchos.

ON THE AIR: Select Titan volleyball games will be broadcast over the internet by volleyball play-by-play announcer Patrick Alog. Follow the action all season long right from your personal computer. Log on to www.fullertontitans.com and click the microphone to listen live as the action happens.

CONCENTRATING ON HITTING NOW:Brittany Moore is getting a little help at the net this season with the emergence of sophomore Alex Wolnisty and newcomer Erin Saddler (a pair of 6-plus-footers). Moore split her court time over the past two seasons as a blocker and a hitter, and climbed the Fullerton blocking charts. Coming into 2007, the Orange, Calif. native ranks fourth all-time in total blocks and has tallied 248 to date, with 208 of those coming as assists and 40 of those solos. Moore leap-frogged Kristen Bowlin (1983) to take over the No. 9 spot on the career list for solos with three so far on the 2007 season. Moore currently leads the team and ranks fourth in the Big West Conference with 4.30 kills per game. Her 28 kills on Oct. 6 ties her with teammate Jennifer Francisco with the highest kill total of the season by any player in the league.

ROAD KILLS: For the first time since the 2001 season, not one, but two Titans posted 28 kills in a match, both times on the road. Jennifer Francisco surpassed her prior career-high by 12 kills notching 28 Oct. 2 at Cal State Northridge, setting a season high for the team as well. Four days later, Brittany Moore matched Francisco with 28 of her own at UC Santa Barbara as the Titans downed the Gauchos for the second time ever. Moore had the previous season high this year with 25 kills at Texas State. The 28 kills by Moore and Francisco are the highest in a match by any Big West Conference player to date.

CHASING LEVEY: Senior setter Julie Geissert continued her quest for the school record in assists with 153 last week moving her into a tie with Stephanie Schrieve (1988-91) for the second-best career total in Fullerton volleyball history. Geissert now sits just 233 assists away from the top spot, currently held by former Titan setter Kim Levey who played for Fullerton from 1999-2002. Geissert, Levey, Schrieve (1988-91) and Melissa Blackler (1995-97) are the only Titans to ever amass more than 3,000 assists in a career at Cal State Fullerton. Geissert has posted 10.86 apg over her four seasons in a Titan uniform and currently ranks third all-time at CSF in assists per game. So far this year, the setter has posted three 60+ assist night and six matches with 50-or-more assists. Twice this season she has matched her career-high of 62 assists in a match, most recently, Oct. 6 at UC Santa Barbara.

FRANCISCO, THAT'S FUN TO SAY: After spending the majority of her first three seasons in a Titan uniform dealing with injuries, Jennifer Francisco is finally able to show what she is made of. The Junior posted a career-high 28 kills and hit .324 with 14 digs in the Titans' 3-2 loss to Cal State Northridge on Oct. 2, then followed that with a 24-kill performance four days later against UC Santa Barbara. The 28-kill performance was the best tally for any Titan player since Megan Sabo's 35-kill night on Sept. 16, 2000 against TCU. Last week, Francisco posted her third and fourth double-doubles of the year and over the last five matches, the San Diego native is leading the team in total kills (88) and ranks second in kills per game with 4.00, and defensively, Francisco has posted the second-most digs (57) from the back court behind Cami Croteau's 93.

SERVING UP ACES: Coming into the week the Titans are second the Big West Conference from the service line, posting 1.72 aces per game and have four players in the league's individual Top 10. Cari Bailey (24 aces, 0.45 sapg) ranks third in the league in aces per game with Brittany Moore (15 aces, 0.33 sapg), Erin Saddler (19 aces, 0.32 sapg) and Julie Geissert (19 aces, 0.32 sapg) holding the seventh, eighth and ninth spots, respectively. Until this week, the Titans have been the leaders in aces per game, but Cal Poly surpassed then tallying 1.76 aces per game.

CROTEAU SETS CAREER-HIGH: Freshman libero Cami Croteau (Orange, Calif.) became just the fifth Titan to ever record 30-or-more digs in a match, recording 31 Oct. 6 night against UC Santa Barbara in a Big West Conference victory over the Gauchos. She paced ten players (five from each team) that recorded 10-or-more digs on the night, setting her new career-high. It was the first time in her young career that she surpassed the 30-dig plateau and the third time she had 20-or-more in a match.

BREAKOUT SEASON: Sophomore Alex Wolnisty is second on the team in kills and kills per game while continuing to hold down the fort at the net as a middle blocker. Wolnisty has put up 179 total kills and 2.98 per game placing just 19 behind teammate Brittany Moore for the team lead. On Sept. 11, the Riverside native had a career night against San Diego State, blasting a career-high 18 kills (without an error) and hit a whopping .720 on the match without committing an error. That .720 mark is the best this season by anyone in the Big West Conference. She also added three blocks on the night.

THE ROOF IS ON FIRE: The Titans put up a whopping 20.0 team blocks on Oct. 2 against Cal State Northridge, led by middle blocker Alex Wolnisty. The 20.0 team blocks, doubled the Titans prior best outing when they posted 10.0 against Stony Brook on Sept. 1. Wolnisty set a career high with 12 total blocks on the night and jumped into the record book as being one of only 10 Titans to ever collect nine or more block assists in a night. Setter Julie Geissert also got into the mix last Tuesday, stuffing seven blocks of her own, the second-highest figure for any Titan player this year. Freshman Erin Saddler also provided support at the net, tallying six blocks including two solos I the losing effort.